Russian troops appear to be also withdrawing from the northern part of the Kharkiv region in the wake of a successful Ukrainian counterattack.
Residents of the village of Kozacha Lopan, 30 kilometres north of the metropolis of Kharkiv, have hoisted the Ukrainian flag, according to media reports.
This comes after Russian units reportedly left the village, about four kilometres from the Russian border and which was occupied at the beginning of Russia’s invasion at the end of February.
Moscow had announced on Saturday it was withdrawing troops from strategic towns in the south of the Kharkiv region. Officially, Moscow justified the withdrawal by saying that units in the neighbouring Donetsk region should be reinforced.
However, many experts assume that the Russians have recently come under so much pressure from the Ukrainian advance in the Kharkiv region that they have decided to flee.
Since the beginning of September, Ukrainian troops have retaken more than 3,000 square kilometres as part of a counteroffensive, according to their own statements.
According to previous figures, Russian troops occupied about 125,000 square kilometres in Ukraine, one fifth of the country’s territory, including the Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured more territory in five days than Russian troops have occupied in total since April, according to US experts.
“The liberation of Izyum would be the most significant Ukrainian military achievement since winning the Battle of Kyiv in March,” the Institute for the Study of the War (ISW) said in its situation analysis on Sunday.
This means that Russia’s planned advance on the Donbass from the north has failed, the experts said.
“A successful encirclement of Russian forces fleeing Izyum would result in the destruction or capture of significant Russian forces and exacerbate Russian manpower and morale issues,” the institute said.
The Washington-based think tank has been publishing regular analyses of the fighting in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Sunday marks the 200th day of the Russian war.
Meanwhile, following the rapid advance of the Ukrainian military in the north-east of the country, not all Russian troops have managed to withdraw, according to Kiev.
“In the Kharkiv area, enemy units from the 20th Army’s 3rd Motorized Rifle Division are cut off from supply routes and are in a panic,” the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report on Sunday.
Casualties were high on the Russian side, with 400 killed in one day. The information could not be independently verified.
“Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have continued to make significant advances in the Kharkiv region,” British intelligence said in its latest situation report on Twitter.
After the heavy defeats around Kharkiv, Moscow is again holding out the prospect of negotiations with Kiev.
“Russia does not reject negotiations with Ukraine, but the longer the process is delayed, the harder it will be to reach an agreement,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on state television.
The talks, which began shortly after Russia launched its war against the neighbouring country on February 24, have been suspended for months.
Moscow blames Kiev for the halt in negotiations, but at the same time sets tough conditions for peace, including heavy territorial losses.
At the same time, Ukraine continues to demand tanks and weapons from the West to keep the pressure on Russian troops high. After a meeting with his counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Kiev, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stressed that German Leopard 2 tanks are urgently needed.
Baerbock initially expressed restraint during her second surprise visit to the war-torn country. Other leading politicians in the German coalition have spoken out in favour of more deliveries, such as the Leopard 2 tank.
Also on Sunday, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant was completely disconnected from the power grid and shut down.
“It has been decided to put reactor unit number six in the safest state – cold state,” the Ukrainian nuclear authority Enerhoatom announced on Sunday, referring to the station’s final reactor.
Despite international warnings, Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been under fire for weeks, and Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the escalation of the situation around the facility.
According to Enerhoatom, the embattled plant had already been operating in “island mode” for the last three days, meaning that it was only producing electricity for its own supply, since all lines connecting it to Ukraine’s power grid had been broken by shelling.
On Saturday evening, a line to the power grid was restored. It was then decided to supply the nuclear power plant via this line and to shut down the last functioning reactor unit and cool it down to a safe cold state.
The plant had already seen an emergency shutdown in August after the site was shelled. Both sides have traded blame for this. (dpa/NAN)
